A person suffering from asthma may have rather considerable trouble in beathing when suffering from an asthmatic attack, due to swelling in the bronchii and due to secretion of mucous. There are various anti-asthmatic pills that are effective, but which generally are somewhat slow-acting. There are also medications available for intravenous treatment which work quite rapidly, but which require administration by skilled medical personnel. For most patients the promptest, immediately available relief is by way of an inhalant. Epinephrine or other suitable asthmatic medication is packaged with a suitable diluent in a small pressurized canister or cartridge which interfits with a mouthpiece. The patient places the mouthpiece in his mouth, and depresses the cartridge, thereby releasing a measured amount of medication which is inhaled through the mouthpiece.
Some patients do not inhale properly, and the mouthpiece may not be completely effective in cooperation with the cartridge to convert the medication into a mist which is deposited in the proper bronchial area to relieve the asthmatic attack. Often there are small droplets, rather than a mist, and this may be compounded by improper inhalation which results in much of the medication simply going into the throat and stomach where it is ineffective against the asthmatic attack.
In our prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,412 we have disclosed a remarkably efficient and low-cost inhalation valve in the nature of an extended mouthpiece for a bronchodilator which aids the asthmatic sufferer in properly inhaling, and in breaking up droplets into a mist form. This inhalation valve has achieved extensive commercial success.
Our inhalation valve as discussed above is for use by a patient who can take the mouthpiece thereof into his mouth and inhale and exhale through the mouthpiece. Babies or small children cannot be relied upon properly to hold the mouthpiece in the mouth, and indeed the baby's mouth may be too small for the mouthpiece. Furthermore, it cannot be ascertained with certainty under some conditions whether a baby or small child is properly inhaling and exhaling.